Squadron Calls For Review of F and L Subway Service

State Sen. Daniel Squadron called on the MTA to review both the L and F trains amid a spike in weekend ridership.View Full Caption

DNAinfo

LOWER EAST SIDE — Where the "F" is the train?

A Lower East Side politician is calling on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to conduct a review of the F and L train lines following reports of sluggish subway service on the weekends.

State Sen. Daniel Squadron has requested a full review of the L line's performance after a New York Times report found that weekend ridership is at historic highs along some lines, despite the slower trains and skipped stops that accompany subway maintenance work on Saturdays and Sundays.

Squadron also asked for a review of the F line where it winds through the Lower East Side, similar to a 2009 review of the F train the MTA conducted at his request, which he said resulted in more frequent trains on weekdays and newer and cleaner subway cars.

"[A]t some stations on the L and F lines weekend ridership is as high — or higher than — weekday ridership," Squadron wrote in a letter to NYC Transit President John Prendergast. "Yet the trains' schedules do not account for the higher weekend usage."

The MTA counted on average 5.36 million rides per weekend last year, marking one of the highest amounts on record, the Times reported.

During weekends, the L train's Bedford Avenue station in Williamsburg — the last stop in Brooklyn for Manhattan-bound riders before crossing into the East Village — serves on average 90 percent of the straphangers it does during weekdays, the Times noted.

An MTA spokesman said the agency received Squadron's request and was in the process of responding.

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